December 1, 2013

Roughly translated from Hebrew Sheol means
grave or place of the dead and December sees the release of Sheol’s eagerly
anticipated debut EP – “Sepulchral Ruins Below The Temple.” Consisting of only
two members, A.B.S. (vocals, guitar, bass) and A.H.S. (drums and guitar) Sheol
play a brutal, coarse, raw style of death metal interspersed with occult
themes.

Spiritual Desiccation is the opening track,
it begins slowly but just a minute in and Sheol reveal their brutality in the
most efficient of fashions, this is only a two minute track but it’s laced with
breakneck, potent death metal drumming, a few guttural growls and exceptional
guitar work.

The relentless onslaught continues until the fourth track,
Katachthomb - an interesting instrumental trip into the bowels of Sheol’s hell
– it’s only a brief respite though as title track Sepulchral Ruins below the
Temple returns us to Sheol’s world of death and ferocity. Also included is a
cover of Darkthrone’s classic track “Cromlech” it’s an excellent version that
stays true to the original and makes for a nice closer for this outstanding
debut.

There are plenty of nods towards pioneering
early death metal releases but by no means whatsoever is this a nostalgia act –
Sheol resist the temptation to sound like rehashed ideas, they reformulate
death metal and give it a twist that’s all their own, reminding us what the
genre is all about.

Death metal fans are fortunate of late as
there is an evil horde of quality death metal bands who are redefining the
genre and bringing it back to the values of old – they don’t over complicate
their music with overwhelming technicality or imagery and there is a lot more
to their music than simply rehashed versions of old glories. All we have to do
is consider the quality of acts on the rosters of labels like Iron Bonehead and
Invictus Productions to see how promising the future is, with labels like this
releasing music of this standard the future of death metal’s underground hasn’t
looked as encouraging for a long time. I hope Sepulchral Ruins below the Temple
is only the beginning of Sheol’s career and I can’t wait to hear a full length
release from them.

This is due to be released on vinyl by Iron
Bonehead Productions and on cd by Invictus Productions in December with digital
formats available now. Right from the off this is a seriously exceptional EP
that reminds us why we fell in love with death metal to begin with – an
essential addition to any serious death metal collection, if you don’t love
this you don’t truly love the genre.